Conventional cables have been used to provide data and electrical power service to extreme or difficult deployment environments. Cellular towers are one type of application which requires relatively rugged cables, in particular open structure cell towers without a closed cable routing duct. Coaxial cables have been used in cellular tower applications, but their low bandwidth characteristics require a large cable cross-section in order to provide adequate data service. Large cable cross-sections, however, may be subject to excessive wind loading in open tower structures. Large cross-sections are also difficult to accommodate in the limited space available in cell towers having a closed duct to house data cables.
Fiber optic cables have also been used to service cellular towers. Fiber optic cables have higher bandwidth capability with a much smaller cross-section than coaxial cables of similar bandwidth capacity. However, existing cables may lack the toughness for pulling and/or routing in exposed environments such as cell towers or may have unacceptable bend or strain-induced losses during deployment. Conventional cables may also use fiber types (e.g. high bandwidth single mode) that require expensive transmitters such as Fabry-Perot lasers.